IBD impacts over 1.5 million people in the US, with rates of diagnosis increasing and treatment options remaining limited. The etiology of IBD is complex and incompletely resolved.
Intestinal microbiota can modulate development and function of the immune system, and play a critical role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a family of idiopathic intestinal disorders including Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and ileitis. Concordance rates of 40-50% between monozygotic twins implicate gene-environment interactions contribute to CD, albeit in ways that are currently poorly understood.
Advances in DNA sequencing technologies can provide insights into the human genome and the gut microbiome in IBD, enabling detailed genomic characterization of patients and chronicling alterations in the composition and gene content of the gut microbiome (dysbiosis).